Dynamic power consumption of a circuit is a function of several different factors. These factors may include, but are not limited to, switching activity, operating frequency, and source voltage. For a variety of reasons, modern circuit designs have followed a trend of increasing dynamic power consumption. While this is largely true in general, it has been particularly true of circuits developed for communications applications.
Due, at least in part, to ever increasing performance requirements, modern circuits and circuit designs are often characterized by a number of features. These features include, but are not limited to, use of wide signal paths, higher clock frequencies, and so forth. As a result, a variety of circuit blocks tend to exhibit higher than average switching activity which negatively impacts dynamic power consumption.
In addition to meeting performance requirements, circuits and circuit designs must also meet power requirements often expressed or defined as a power budget. This means that increasing dynamic power consumption is a growing concern in view of recent trends.